


Pipe Dreams

by IgnobleBard



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Bathtub Sex, Elves, Multi, Yule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-21
Updated: 2005-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IgnobleBard/pseuds/IgnobleBard
Summary: Gimli surprises a Legolas with Yule gift.
Relationships: Haldir of Lothlorién/Legolas Greenleaf/Orophin/Rúmil of Lothlorién
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Pipe Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 12 Days of Christmas ficlet thegodsthemselves Yahoo group. Each author wrote a different day and this is day 11 (eleven pipers piping).

"Hot water?" Gimli asked, his bushy eyebrows creased in a frown, "Brought indoors? How?"

Legolas smiled, "It is a system we Elves use, not difficult to accomplish, and I have brought the craftsmen needed to do the work, eleven in all."

"Perhaps it is not a difficult system to put together, but surely difficult to run through solid rock." Gimli snorted.

"We need not run it through the rock; we'll run the pipes overhead, like this." Legolas laid out the parchment containing the plans. "Think how nice it would be to have the hot water flow instead of having to heat and pour it by hand."

Gimli looked the plans over and shook his head. "It will not go through there without spoiling the beauty of the stalactites we have preserved in the great hall."

Legolas shrugged. "Well, you know more of these things than I, but it seems that the natural fissures would help hide the pipes if the Dwarves could just do a little cutting here..." he pointed, "and here."

Gimli looked where he indicated and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Aye, we could do that." he said with a nod of his shaggy head. Then he paused and looked up at Legolas warily. "And what would an Elf ask of the Dwarves for such a magnanimous gift?"

Legolas gave him an impish grin, "The inaugural bath in a tub of hot running water." 

"Done!" Gimli said with a laugh.

*********************************

The annual Winter Festival was coming and Legolas wanted to make sure the work on the pipes was completed before the celebration. The people of Rohan and Dwarves from other realms came each year to the Glittering Caves to celebrate the harvest, see old friends, exchange gifts, and barter for goods before the snow made travel impossible. With the guests coming, Legolas wanted his gift to Gimli ready in time to accommodate all who would be visiting.

For the next few weeks, Legolas kept a close eye on the construction, keeping Gimli away and mediating a few truces between the Elven pipers and the Dwarven stonemasons. The work was completed two days before the Winter Festival, and the pipers packed up their equipment and bid their goodbyes to Gimli and his people, politely declining his invitation to stay for the festivities. They wanted to return to Eryn Lasgalen to celebrate the winter with their Elven kin in their own traditional way. Legolas saw them off, thanking them for their service and sending with them a message of greeting to his father and a few old friends who remained in Middle Earth.

When they left, Legolas felt a bit melancholy to see them go and know they would be spending winter in the Greenwood. He had no real desire to go with them but the nostalgia of his days there, coupled with the cheerfulness among his Dwarven hosts, made him feel like an outsider. He no longer seemed to fit in with the Wood Elves with whom he'd been raised yet he did not belong to the world of Dwarves or Men either. With the festival only two days away and all the pipe work completed, he found himself at loose ends, trying to keep out of the way of the bustling Dwarves and to give his friend the latitude he needed to direct the proceedings.

Gimli was indeed busy with the preparations. He spent the next two days readying the great hall and seeing to the guest arrangements for the Rohirrim and Dwarves who would be coming and going throughout the twelve day event. It was exhausting work but Gimli thrived on the excitement, seeing to as many details himself as he could manage. On the eve of the festival, he finished up late and went to take a rest by the fire. There he found Legolas, staring thoughtfully into the flames, sipping at a tankard of malt beer.

"Why so glum, laddie? You look as if an Orc stole your last arrow." he joked.

Legolas turned to his friend and managed a little smile. "It is nothing. I am just a bit tired after overseeing the water project and with the preparations for the festival."

Gimli looked at him suspiciously. He had never known his friend to get tired and if the Elf did, Gimli doubted he would admit it. He knew what was troubling Legolas and he thought he had just the cure.

"The guests will begin arriving tomorrow and now, thanks to you and your pipers, we will all have hot water to keep off the winter chill." Gimli said. "Why don't you go and try out the new plumbing, laddie? Maybe it will cheer you up some."

Legolas brightened a bit. "Yes, you promised me the first bath. I believe I will I take you up on that."

He stood and clapped Gimli companionably on the shoulder as he left. Gimli smiled to himself as he watched Legolas go. 'A fine present you have given me,' he thought, 'a fine one I have also for you.'

Legolas entered the anteroom of the bathing chamber and looked into the bath. A tub of steaming water was awaiting him along with the necessary toiletries and towels. He smiled. "The legendary hospitality of the Dwarves." he said softly to himself. In the antechamber he stripped off his clothing and laid everything neatly upon the bench, then went into the bath and slid into the hot water. 

The tub was a large communal one, carved of marble, with steps leading into it from its four corners. When Legolas sat down, he sighed and shook his head, for the water barely covered him to his waist. He would have to speak to Gimli about increasing the depth, he thought with a smile. Still, there was plenty of room for his long legs, and he stretched out and leaned back against the cool marble at his back, his arms propped up on the sides. 

The steam rose around him and he closed his eyes, basking in the feeling of relaxation the hot water brought. The loneliness he had been feeling drifted to the back of his mind. So what if he was the only Elf at a festival filled with Dwarves and Men? He cherished his time spent with Gimli, but could not deny that he missed the company of other Elves whenever there was a celebration like this. It reminded him of times spent in his former forest home and how the stronghold would be filled with music and merriment, feasting and games, for many days. And there was always a ready companion to warm a cold winter bed after the feasting was done.

He smiled to himself at the memory of some of his more... daring exploits in this area and settled more deeply into the water while his mind wandered in reverie.

As he lay in his half-waking state, he felt a gentle touch upon his chest, a feeling of slim Elven fingers moving over his skin, up from below the water, almost to his throat, and then down until they brushed over his navel. The feeling was so pleasant, so utterly real, that he felt a different kind of heat spread through his loins. His breathing deepened and he gave a small gasp when another hand was added. A subtle puff of air caressed his cheek and he sighed in pleasure, his eyes cracking open slightly.

Sitting across from him was Haldir, and Legolas started so violently at the unexpected sight that Rúmil and Orophin, who were sitting on either side of him, were forced to physically restrain him from leaping from the water like a fish. Legolas' gaze passed to each of the Lorien brothers and the three chuckled to see the look of surprise and joy light his blue eyes.

"How do you come to be here?" Legolas asked excitedly, flinging his arms around Rúmil's and Orophin's necks and pulling them into a hug. "I have never known you to travel so far from your homeland."

Haldir smiled. "It seems we received a message a good while ago saying our friend Legolas needed us and asking if we would consider companioning him in the Glittering Caves for the Winter Festival. Of course it was written in Dwarvish so by the time we translated it, we barely had time to make it here. And when we did, your friend Gimli suggested a hot bath to help us recover from our long travels. We came in to find you lying here in reverie with your eyes closed and it was too tempting to resist." His eyes traveled down Legolas' body and lingered on his half-hard arousal. "As much as it pains me to admit it, the Dwarf was right. A bath is just what we all need."

Legolas blushed a little, then smiled, as he felt the hardness of the two brothers press like bookends against his hips. "Gimli is right about many things." he breathed shakily. Orophin blew in his ear and he gulped.

Rúmil patted his chest and gave him a seductive smile. "Looks like you have gotten yourself in hot water." he said.

Legolas kissed him fully as he moved a hand down to stroke Orophin. 'And there's nowhere else I'd rather be.' he thought happily.


End file.
